Money on the Side Hustle

In case you haven't noticed - our collective economic stability is crumbling all around us. Our world is trying really hard to pay its bills and keep its job. America, in particular has been living way beyond its means for far too long. I hear the chant of my grandmother's pastor playing over and over in my head. "Live within your means, live within your means" he would have everybody repeat three times every Sunday.
And speaking of Christ, there are holidays coming up and all the retailers are crapping in their pants because suddenly, everyone wants to get creative this year and make handcrafted gifts. Even the tech industry is biting the bullet. Talk about a dry spell.
And you can't blame us. Layoffs are the new promotions and aside from gas, not much else is getting cheaper. Have you purchased a carton of eggs lately?!
My point is...how are we expected to live our lives as normally as possible under these ridiculous circumstances? We're not accustomed to living within our means - therefore, we must grow more means.
Here are some examples of ways to make a couple extra bucks. They're simple, require very little effort and can sometimes be interesting. And anybody can do them (no special talents needed):

University Psychology Experiments
Wait, wait. I know it sounds crazy. But I've done these before - there are no needles or other physically intrusive instruments. Mostly these experiments involve a written questionnaire or time spent looking at and responding to images on a screen. This is level A of the 'money on the side' hustle (aka "MOTSH") and can gain anywhere from $10-$50 per hour for experiments that last 1-3 hours, and I've seen returns as high as $500 for overnight sleep studies. More for 'effects of skydiving' studies - plus they pay for your whole skydiving experience (lessons included). Check your local university psychology department walls for posts. Take notes and start making contact. In NYC, I recommend NYU and Columbia.

Get focused
Focus groups. Every smart company needs at least one of these. Basically, companies across the spectrum like to test out the habits of their audiences, and they do this by assembling focus groups of about 10-15 people who they consider to be their "target market". They sit you down and ask you a bunch of questions about...your favorite soft drink...how often you drive during the summer...which shaving cream textures you're most comfortable with. These normally last up to two hours and pay on average $100/hr. And you usually get to walk away with a free product or two.
Check em:
Focusgroup.com
focusroom.com
findfocusgroups.com


This excerpt from the film Focus Room gives an accurate depiction of the focus room experience ;)

There are many other hustles I can list. Tutoring. eBay. Offering various skills and talents on craigslist (not in that section!). But the theme in today's entry is simplicity. Hustles that require very little thinking, cuz face it, sometimes we need to just veg out. I don't know about you all, but my brain is on overload. I don't have a sustainable amount of energy for strategizing and planning for my MOTSH.
If you have some similar MOTSH's, please share in the comments space.